Shelly Kagan on AI might become conscious

Shelly Kagan

Clark Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, specializing in ethics and moral philosophy.

I think we’ve got the beginnings of a pretty good story, because we can already build machines that can represent environments. [...] If that’s what you mean by consciousness—having beliefs, having desires, being able to report what those beliefs and desires are, being able to make plans on the basis of them—we already can do that in some rudimentary ways, and we’re getting better and better at it.

AI Verified (Oct 11, 2026)

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Shelly Kagan, interview on The Atlantic's The Permanent Questions, “Do Human Beings Have Souls?”, October 11, 2026. In the discussion of whether machines and AI can have beliefs, desires, plans, and consciousness, Kagan says machines already do so in rudimentary ways and are improving.

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AI might become conscious

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AI Verified Kagan expressly discusses whether machines can have consciousness and says they already possess its cited functional components in rudimentary ways. This supports the possibility that AI might become conscious. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 20d ago

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AI Verified Recorded answer for is correct: Kagan says machines already have rudimentary functional components of consciousness, supporting the possibility that AI might become conscious. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 20d ago

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AI Verified The Atlantic’s Oct. 11, 2026 transcript attributes the stored wording to Shelly Kagan, including that machines can represent environments and, under that account, already have beliefs, desires, reports, and plans in rudimentary ways. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 20d ago

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